Great War Portraits

Lance-Corporal Robert Cecil Bernard Cooper 7th Lincoln Regiment. Born 21 August 1899. Knight's House 1910-1914. He left school on the very day war was declared, 4 August 1914. He was the son of the late William Hewitt Cooper, of Beckenham, Kent, and he was engaged in the Accounts Department of Messrs. Heinz and Co. He joined the army on 20 September, 1917, at the the age of 18, and went to France in April 1918. He was wounded near Albert in September of that year and died in Wimereux Hospital, Boulogue, 24 September. He was buried in the British Cemetery near Boulogne.
 
Before joining up he he had been a valued helper at the Penge Congregational Sunday School and with the Beckenham Scouts, and had been an ardent worker for the V.A.D. He endeared himself to all who knew him, and on being badly wounded he showed a fortitude remarkable in one so young. He was only 18 1/2 years old.
 
From 'Memorials of Masonians Who Fell in the Great War' Royal Masonic School for Boys, Bushey, Watford. 1922